Business Advisory Council

Peter Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what date her Business Advisory Council last met; and who attended the meeting.

Cheryl Gillan: The Business Advisory Group meets on a quarterly basis. The last meeting was on 24 October 2011. The attendees of the meeting were:
	Uday Chaturvedi, TATA Steel
	Paul Gorin, Smart Solutions
	Rob Lewis, PricewaterhouseCoopers
	Colin OrrBurns, Dragon LNG
	David Rosser, CBI
	Graham Hillier, Toyota
	Professor George Boyne, Cardiff University
	Nick Main, GE Healthcare
	David Williams, Chairman of Llandudno Hospitality Association
	Steve Thomas, Airbus
	Professor Stuart Cole, University of Glamorgan

Departmental Travel

Peter Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many times (a) she, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in her Department have travelled first class on trains since May 2010.

David Jones: On taking office, the Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), confirmed that there would no longer be any first class travel paid for by the Wales Office. All tickets bought from May 2010 onwards for myself, the Secretary of State and officials have been for standard rail travel, which has resulted in a saving of £86,824 when compared to the previous year.
	The Secretary of State and three officials did travel first class—at no cost to the Wales Office—as guests of First Great Western when they attempted to set a new record for the fastest journey between Cardiff and London, and on six occasions the Secretary of State and two officials have been upgraded again at no cost to the Wales Office for operational reasons.

Assisted Areas

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the possible withdrawal of automatic assisted area status from Northern Ireland.

Owen Paterson: I have engaged in correspondence with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), on this matter. The possible removal of automatic assisted area status from Northern Ireland was one of the options considered in the Government's consultation on changes to the Industrial Development Act 1982 which closed on 2 November. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills is on target to publish the Government's response within three months of the close of the consultation.

Departmental Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether food and catering services in (a) her Department and (b) public bodies for which she is responsible plan to implement calorie labelling on menus and display boards.

Damian Green: The Home Office and public bodies for which it is responsible do not directly contract for food supplies but procure catering services through wider facilities management or operating service contracts. At our headquarters building allergen and healthy choice labelling has been implemented and there are plans to increase this to include calorific values. We are also working with our contracted suppliers who deliver catering services to the UKBA, National Policing Improvement Agency and Identity and Passport Service estate to encourage them to introduce similar labelling arrangements as part of their plans for 2012.

Deportation: Appeals

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals convicted in UK courts have contested deportation orders in each of the last five years; and how many such appeals have been successful and the appellant allowed to remain in the UK.

Damian Green: Figures for the last five years are not available. However, between 2008 and the end of September 2011, 5,657 appeals have been lodged by foreign national offenders contesting deportation orders. Of this, 1,333 appeals were successful. A breakdown is detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 Total 
			 Appeals lodged 1,798 1,349 1,486 1,024 5,657 
			 Appeals allowed 342 346 473 172 1,333

Drug Seizures

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much heroin and cocaine was seized by UK Border Agency staff in the airports included in her summer 2011 pilot on immigration entry during the period of the pilot; and how much was seized in the corresponding period of 2010.

Damian Green: The latest drug-seizure statistics that have been produced in accordance with the Home Office's Statement of Compliance are contained within the Home Office Statistical Bulletin, ‘Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, 2010/11’ (accessed via the following link), published on 10 November 2011. These contain information for the full-year and are not broken down into individual month. The annual seizures for 2010-11 amounted to 420 kg of heroin, 1,519 kg of cocaine and 14 kg of crack-cocaine.
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/police-research/hosb1711/hosb1711?view=Binary

Immigration

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  whether a report on the pilot scheme for border controls was sent to a Minister in her Department;
	(2)  how the pilot scheme for border controls in July 2011 was monitored; and to whom data obtained during the monitoring was sent.

Damian Green: I refer the hon. Member to the evidence provided by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 8 November.

Immigration

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the UK Border Agency has made in clearing the backlog of historic immigration cases over five years old.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency committed to review all older unresolved cases by summer 2011, this was achieved by March 2011. A total of 500,500 cases were reviewed as part of the programme.
	As Jonathan Sedgwick, then acting chief executive of the UK Border Agency, reported to the Home Affairs Committee on 12 September, £479,000 of the 500,500 cases in the legacy programme have been fully concluded. The remaining cases are being actively managed to conclusion, this will involve removing barriers such as impending prosecutions or obtaining travel documents to facilitate removal.

Police: Firearms

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness and efficiency of the issuing of firearm licences to the public by police authorities; and what guidance she has issued to police forces on the procedure to be followed when issuing firearm licences to the public.

Nick Herbert: Under the Firearms Act 1968 responsibility for granting and renewing firearm and shot gun certificates lies with the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. Guidance issued to the police in 2002 was intended to assist consistency of practice between police forces and makes it clear that in operating the licensing system forces should aim to provide cost-effective systems which ensure the speedy and efficient processing of applications and which take into account good practice and the need to provide best value. The guidance is currently being reviewed and will then be republished.

Police: Pensions

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  whether she proposes that HM Treasury's guidance entitled A Fair Deal for Staff Pensions will apply to the transfer of police staff from police authorities to police and crime commissioners;
	(2)  whether the Cabinet Office guidelines on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector: Statement of Practice and HM Treasury's guidance entitled A Fair Deal for Staff Pensions will be incorporated into the statutory transfer order which will transfer responsibility for police staff from police authorities to police and crime commissioners.

Nick Herbert: The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act provides for the abolition of police authorities and the creation of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). Steps are being taken to permit a PCC to become the new employer in the Local Government Pension Scheme so that there will be pension continuity for former non uniformed police authority staff. Consequently, HM Treasury's Fair Deal requirements would be fully complied with as the member would have no detriment as far as pension provision would be concerned. Furthermore, under the Act, staff transfers can properly be regarded as an administrative reorganisation of public functions and authorities. As such, we expect the principles set out in the Cabinet Office Statement of Practice on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector to be applied.

Departmental Audit

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria (a) her Department and (b) its public bodies use when deciding whether and when to hold an internal audit; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The internal audit programme is proposed on an annual basis by the organisation’s head of internal audit (HIA) and approved by its Audit and Risk Committee. It should cover the key systems of governance, risk management and internal control. Programmes of internal audit work are developed in accordance with Government Internal Audit Standards (GIAS) (based on International Internal Audit Standards), taking into account guidance on internal audit planning issued by HM Treasury. The key criteria established by these standards for deciding what to audit is risk to corporate/strategic objectives.
	In the course of any year, the decision whether to proceed with an audit will depend on the changing risk profile of the organisation. In addition, the HIA may decide to rely on available alternative sources of assurance rather than conduct an audit themselves.
	DEFRA Executive agencies internal audit programmes comprise a mix of risk-based, process/systems, legislative and European Union compliance audits. Each organisation’s annual programme of work may or may not include indicative timings for audit work. The decision on when to hold an audit will take account of a number of factors including:
	the nature of the risk;
	the timing of previous and related assurances over the risk;
	resource availability; and
	the requirements of third parties who rely on internal audit work (e.g. the NAO and the EC).

Water Supply

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the options for (a) water supply and (b) billing of those receiving water via resale; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Water resale commonly occurs in mobile home parks, flats, apartments and other rented or leasehold accommodation. Under section 150 of the Water Industry Act 1991 Ofwat have the power to make an order fixing the maximum resale price for water or sewerage services, either by specifying the maximum amount of the charge or by specifying how the maximum price should be calculated.
	Ofwat have said in their forward programme for 2011-12 to 2013-14 that they will review the water resale order in 2012 to ensure it remains appropriate.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last had a discussion with the Scottish Government on the extension of the proposed High Speed Two line to the Scottish border.

David Mundell: My officials and I are in regular contact with counterparts in the Scottish Government in regard to the High Speed 2 project. We look forward to having more detailed discussions if and when the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), approves proposals for the initial phases of the project, for construction of a line from London to the West Midlands, and north to Manchester and Leeds.

Public Houses

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions officials in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on their response to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee's inquiry into pub companies insofar as it relates to Scotland.

David Mundell: Officials in BIS have been in contact with their counterparts in the Scotland Office and in the Office of the Advocate-General in respect of this inquiry. Following investigation, the OFT found no evidence of competition problems in the pub industry having a significant impact on consumers. It was concluded that legally binding self regulation of pub companies, or 'pubcos', could be introduced far more quickly than any statutory solution. Officials in OAG confirmed that the code of practice can be made legally binding under Scots law by contract or incorporation into, or variation of, leases; the legal principles are similar to those in England and Wales.

Departmental Responsibilities

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to ensure social value is included when services are commissioned by (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies; and if he will make a statement.

John Penrose: This Department and its Executive agency, the Royal Parks, try and commission services that encompass economic, social and environmental aspects. Usually this is included within the statement of requirements. Other centralised contracts are commissioned by Cabinet Office directly.

Capita

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many contracts his Department has awarded to Capita since May 2010; and what the (a) purpose, (b) monetary value and (c) net worth was of each such contract.

Tim Loughton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt) on 5 July 2011, Official Report, column 1138W.

Child Protection Review

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress he has made on implementation of the recommendations of the Munro report into child protection.

Tim Loughton: Good progress is being made across the full range of commitments in the Government response published in July.
	We are reducing bureaucracy and making it easier for the front line to use their professional judgment through revisions to “Working Together to Safeguard Children” and the “Framework of Assessment for Children in Need and their Families”. There will be a formal consultation from early 2012 and we will publish revised statutory guidance by July 2012. A multi-disciplinary professional advisory group is advising us on this work.
	Government, Ofsted and the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) have come together with a range of other partners to develop and agree local child safeguarding performance information that puts professional expertise, rather than process, at the heart of local quality assurance. This is now published on the Department's website and we will be consulting in the new year on national performance information.
	Over the summer, Ofsted consulted on local authority child protection inspection arrangements that are more child centred. These new arrangements will begin in May 2012. All relevant inspectorates have also now agreed in principle to Professor Munro's proposed model of joint inspection to ensure that the contribution of all local services to safeguarding is examined. The inspectorates are working through what such a model will look like and when it will begin, and will give a progress update by end March 2012.
	On 31 October we published a co-produced work programme, “Safeguarding Children in the reformed NHS”. Phase one is under way, led by the Chief Nursing Officer. Stakeholders will be consulted on the draft Accountabilities Framework in January 2012.
	We have been working with partners to consider the best route to secure Professor Munro's vision of a transparent and co-ordinated offer of early help for children and families. We have engaged with partners in ADCS, health, police and education and have concluded that we do not need a new statutory duty to deliver early help and that there is sufficient existing legislation to realise Professor Munro's recommendation. We will continue to work with partners to clarify existing legislation to emphasise the importance of early help. In the meantime we encourage local areas to continue to work to provide early help for the compelling arguments that Professor Munro articulated.
	We are working with eight local authorities to trial more flexible approaches to assessment. The evidence from these trials is being evaluated now. The emerging findings are encouraging and suggest that both removing the distinction between the initial and core assessments and replacing nationally prescribed time scales for assessment with timely, professional judgments can have the positive impact on practice envisaged by Professor Munro. Some of these trials have been running for only a few months and we need to explore further the impact of these changes, especially for children and young people. For this reason we have extended the trials to run until 31 March 2012 and will be consulting on flexibilities as part of the “Working Together” consultation next year.
	After consultation, and a market sounding exercise, we have taken the decision to decommission the National electronic Common Assessment Framework system (National eCAF). This is consistent with Professor Munro's view that we should remove constraints to local innovation and professional judgment that are created by prescribing approaches such as national IT systems. We will work with the current users of the system over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition. As part of the decommissioning process we will consider the options to secure value out of the Government owned assets.
	Our reforms of child protection are underpinned by workforce reform, in particular reform of the social work profession which is being led by the Social Work Reform Board and the College of Social Work.
	The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the College of Social Work are supporting local authorities in designating a Principal Child and Family Social Worker in every local area. These roles will play a key part in redesigning child and family social work. The Department for Education and the Department of Health have been making preparations for the appointment of a Chief Social Worker to advise Government on social work practice and the effectiveness of help being provided to children, families and adults. We are confident that the Chief Social Worker will be in post in 2012, ahead of the timeline envisaged in the Government's response.
	We are clarifying and strengthening accountabilities in the system and taking action to improve learning from Serious Case Reviews.
	We are currently consulting on new guidance for DCSs and Lead Members so that we have real clarity about their roles. My officials and I have also held discussions with groups of Local Safeguarding Children Boards Chairs to consider what might be done to strengthen their central role in challenging and monitoring the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and we will be exploring options with stakeholders over coming weeks. This will build on our reforms around learning, early help, inspection and performance information which emphasise the importance of LSCBs.
	Improving learning from serious incidents is critical to driving improvements in practice in child protection. Following Professor Munro's recommendation to use systems methodologies for Serious Case Reviews (SCR), we are considering how the Social Care Institute for Excellence's (SCIE) “Learning Together” model can be developed further for use in SCRs. I announced last month that Coventry LSCB would pilot the SCIE model and we have now agreed that Lancashire LSCB will also carry out a pilot. While the pilots are in progress, my officials are also exploring, learning from sectors such as aviation and health, other ways of ensuring effective, sustained learning from serious incidents embedded in every day practice, with greater transparency and accountability. We will consult formally on new arrangements for SCRs next year.
	We have been working with Ofsted to develop transitional arrangements in response to Professor Munro's recommendation to end Ofsted's evaluation of SCRs. From January 2012, Ofsted evaluations of SCRs will be more streamlined with a greater focus on identifying and embedding learning in order to support improvements in professional practice.
	Implementing the Munro recommendations requires a shift in mindset. The Government response was not intended to be seen as a one-off set of recommended solutions to be imposed from the centre, but a joint venture between central Government, local agencies, local authorities and professionals. Our reforms are designed to shift the focus of the child protection system on to the things that matter most: the views and experiences of children and young people.

Children in Care

Edward Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he has taken to encourage local authorities to share good practice and reduce poor performance in providing services for looked-after children.

Tim Loughton: We have made clear that we want to see rapid improvements in the quality of support given to looked after children, and in the volume and timeliness of adoption where this is in the child's best interest. It is therefore essential to bring all authorities up to the standards of the best. The new Children in Care and Adoption Performance Tables, published on 31 October and being updated this month, show the extent of the variations in performance between different authorities, and where improvements need to be made.
	Local authorities need to ensure that they draw on best practice and make full use of evidence based interventions such as Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care. We will continue to support them in doing this, and to help maximise the impact of well-informed local support and challenge from independent reviewing officers, virtual school heads, children in care councils and voluntary sector networks.
	A full set of streamlined, more coherent regulations and guidance came into force in April, and revised national minimum standards have also been published. The Foster Carers' Charter now sets out clear principles for how foster carers should be supported and our programme of improvement for children's homes includes support for the sharing of good practice and identifying and tackling weaknesses.

Departmental Design

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what contracts his Department has awarded for design services since May 2010; and what information his Department holds on the location of such companies.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education let a new framework agreement for creative media services on 4 July 2011. This framework replaced a number of old frameworks, including design services.
	The new framework was awarded to Creative Choice—a newly-formed small medium enterprise (SME) consortium and community interest company. Three principle companies provide first tier management functions:
	Live Group (chair and project management) based in London/Sheffield;
	WCL (account management) based in London; and
	CDS (sourcing and supply management) based in Leeds.
	This first tier manages a broad second tier supply base, including companies delivering design services. The framework is currently mid-process in evaluating potential suppliers. Phase 1 is complete, and due to the significant interest from the SME market—a phase 2 has started and will be completed by January 2012. To date the following design companies have joined the second tier supply base (location in brackets):
	Bell (London);
	Bentley Holland (London);
	Brass(Leeds);
	Buffalo Design (Bath);
	CDS (Leeds);
	Domarn Group (London);
	Folio Creative Communication Ltd (Henley-on-Thames, Oxon);
	Kindred (London);
	Live Group (London);
	Oxford Strategic Marketing (Oxford);
	the Workshop (Sheffield);
	Wordlink (London); and
	Yes Agency (Uttoxeter, Staffs).
	The phase 2 evaluation will add a further four to six design companies to this list.

Departmental Procurement

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what procedures his Department has put in place to ensure value for money on purchases; and what savings have been realised through use of such procedures in the last year.

Tim Loughton: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), in his answer to his hon. Friend the Member for Southport (John Pugh) on 15 November 2010, Official Report, columns 615-16W, said that the Government had announced a more specific and innovative approach to efficiency and reform across the public sector led by the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) in Cabinet Office, including:
	a reduction in administration budgets of 34% across the whole of Whitehall and its arm's length bodies saving £5.9 billion a year by 2014-15;
	radically reducing the number of arm's length bodies across government; and
	the Efficiency and Reform Group's tough new efficiency regime which will drive savings in procurement, major projects and estate management.
	The Department has established internal procedures which underpin these cross Government arrangements introduced by ERG, and which provide scrutiny of spend across the Department for Education and our arm’s length bodies.
	It is departmental policy to competitively tender all contract opportunities and to award contracts to the supplier offering best value for money.
	In August 2011, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), announced that ERG's new measures had saved £3.75 billion over 2010/11.
	This impact was assessed using methodologies follows at Annex A. The assessment has been independently verified by Government auditors who found the benefits assertions to be fairly calculated and presented.
	These savings are born out in my Department's annual report and accounts 2010-11:
	http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/d/annual%20report%20and%20accounts%202010%2011.pdf
	Note 9 (a), page 83, reports that other administration costs for my Department reduced from £70.713 million in financial year 2009-10 to £65.868 million in financial year 2010-11. Figures in this report are prepared in accordance with HM Treasury's Financial Reporting Manual for central Government Departments and associated Treasury resource accounting and budgeting guidance.
	
		
			 Annex A: Activity and calculation method 
			 Area Activity description Evidence base/calculation 
			 Consulting Government put in place a moratorium on new consulting spend, and extensions to existing contracts. Where spend was considered operationally critical (for example, where it might put at risk critical services) an exception process existed for department ministers to sign off expenditure over £20,000. Savings are calculated by subtracting total departmental reported spend on consultancy for 2010/11 from total departmental reported spend on consultancy for 2009/10. To reduce the risk of costs shifting between categories, we also monitored expenditure on other Professional Services categories, including contingent labour. 
			    
			 Crown Commercial Government has renegotiated deals with some of the largest suppliers to government. The method of calculation varies according to the initiative that yields the saving, but was based on cash releasing savings against a baseline of what would have otherwise been spent. This was often price savings against the previous price paid. Savings agreed with suppliers are recorded in Memoranda of Understanding as guaranteed-in-year or conditional-in-year savings. Realised savings were subsequently tracked back to departmental verification of supplier progress reports. 
			    
			 Contingent Labour Government has significantly cut the number of temporary staff. Savings are calculated by subtracting total departmental reported spend on contingent labour for 2010/11 from total departmental reported spend on contingent labour for 2009/10. 
			    
			 Communications Government froze all new marketing spend unless it is an operational necessity. Where spend was proposed, Ministerial sign-off was required for £20,000 or above. Calculations compare departmental spend on marketing and advertising through COI for 2010/11 with that for 2009/10. 
		
	
	
		
			 Centralising Procurement Government has started to centralise spend on common goods and services to drive down prices. These savings derive from the 10 categories of expenditure targeted for centralisation, and relate to price savings through increased aggregation. For each initiative, calculations are performed using individual benefit methodologies that set out how savings will be calculated against a 2009/10 price baseline. Evidence is management information provided by suppliers. 
			    
			 ICT We implemented: (a) a moratorium on all new ICT spend above £1 million; and (b) a review of all on-going ICT commitments. Departments also reported those projects that were closed before undergoing the review. Calculations are based on departmental reports of spend that has not proceeded. Spend that has not gone ahead in 2010/11 is recorded, as a result of stopping or reducing spend. Further, sustainable savings are targeted through the Government ICT strategy. 
			    
			 Major Projects We reviewed the Government's biggest projects to see where 2010/11 costs could practically be reduced within contractual constraints, or wasteful projects stopped altogether. We've halted or curtailed spend on 4 projects: 14-19 Reform—£60 million Identity Cards—£50 million Highways Agency Projects—£54 million Whole Farm—£5 million We have redacted £22 million of potential double counting from these figures that arises between this work and our supplier renegotiation work stream. £14.9 million arises from the Home Office National Identity Cards and £6.7 million from DEFRA Whole Farm. HMT have provided assurance that the relevant amounts were removed from departmental budgets following the Major Projects related negotiations. 
			    
			 Property We put in place national property controls such that signature of new property leases or lease extensions were approved centrally. It has not always been possible to net off all costs associated with vacating buildings. However, we have also not claimed savings in respect of revenue from property disposals. Calculations are property by property based on the amount departments have reported saved through the Government's property database by non-renewal of property leases at lease breaks or upon lease expiry.

Departmental Travel

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has spent on first class travel by (a) air, (b) boat and (c) train since May 2010.

Tim Loughton: Between May 2010 and September 2011 the Department for Education spent £192,510 on first-class rail journeys and there were no first-class journeys by sea or air during this period.
	70% of the first-class rail tickets spend between May 2010 and September 2011 (17 months) was spent in the five months May to September 2010 (£134,670 of a total of £192,510)
	First-class rail travel costs for the period May 2010 to March 2011 was £166,636 (10.5%) of the total £1,585,485 rail travel costs.
	First-class rail travel costs for the period April to September 2011 (six months) was £25,874 (4.3%) of the total £595,115 rail travel costs.
	This information is a summary of transactions through the Department's Business Travel booking agent, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
	There are clear policy principles guiding this issue and staff are expected to travel standard-class except for a very few special circumstances including access to facilities to accommodate disabilities or if it can be demonstrated that a first-class ticket is lower cost than standard-class. The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), and other Ministers have a policy of travelling in standard-class and the only first-class rail journey purchased since May 2010 by a member of this group was undertaken by the Secretary of State on 9 September 2010. On this occasion, the Secretary of State's Private Office was instructed by No. 10 officials to purchase a first-class ticket that ensured Mr Gove travelled with the Prime Minister first class to Norwich from London and return, in the same carriage, for security reasons.

Music: Education

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the National Music Plan 
	(1)  how many hours of music tuition per term children in (a) Lambeth, (b) Liverpool and (c) Norwich receive through the Harmony Sistema England programme; and what estimate he has made of the number of hours of such tuition per term they will receive in each of the next three years;
	(2)  how many children in (a) Lambeth, (b) Liverpool and (c) Norwich receive music tuition through the Harmony Sistema England programme; and what estimate he has made of the number of children who will receive such tuition in each of the next three years;
	(3)  how much funding will be provided per child through the Harmony Sistema England programme in (a) Lambeth, (b) Liverpool and (c) Norwich.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 December 2011
	As set out in the National Plan for Music Education, published on 25 November, In Harmony Sistema England is a specific and targeted part of the overall music education landscape. It is a social development programme offering children from deprived areas the opportunity to achieve their full potential through intensive music tuition and activity to raise aspirations and attainment.
	This year, the three projects are operating as follows:
	Lambeth: 418 children receive between 1.5 (in nursery) and 7.7 hours tuition each week. A further 50 children attend three to five hours of ensemble rehearsals per week.
	Liverpool: 143 children from ages four to 13 years receive between three and seven hours tuition each week.
	Norwich: 815 children receive at least one hour per week tuition in school from the In Harmony team, of whom 150 receive up to 8.5 hours of music tuition each week.
	Each project also provides opportunities to attend holiday classes; perform in concerts; and attend concerts given by professional orchestras. In this financial year, each project will receive £150,000 from the Department for Education, which is supplemented by additional funding from a variety of sources. The total cost per child is not, therefore, available centrally.
	With continuing funding from Government, augmented by matched funding from Arts Council for England, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has announced his intention to expand the programme. We are working with the Arts Council to agree the detail of this expansion and will make further announcements in the new year. We are therefore not yet in a position to say how many children will receive music tuition through In Harmony Sistema England. However, the national plan set out an ambitious programme for wider music education for all children, in particular that, in exchange for DfE funding, music education hubs will ensure that all children learn to play an instrument, and to play in ensembles, and have the chance to progress.

Music: Education

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the National Music Plan, how much funding has been allocated per child for music education in each local authority area in each of the three years from April 2012.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 December 2011
	The funding allocations announced as part of the National Plan for Music Education include a basic amount for every child, with an additional amount for pupils eligible for free school meals. This second factor is intended as a proxy for the additional costs of ensuring that all children receive a high quality music education. The following table shows the basic unit cost of music funding per pupil and the additional funding each area will receive per pupil who is eligible for free school meals.
	
		
			 £ 
			  2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Basic funding 8.99 7.75 7.89 
			 Deprivation funding 6.07 5.23 5.32 
		
	
	We shall place copies of individual allocations per pupil in each local authority area in the House Libraries.

Teachers: E-mail

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how he obtained the private e-mail addresses of teachers who had not provided that information to his Department to e-mail them about changes to their pensions on 24 November 2011.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 7 December 2011
	The e-mail addresses were obtained from the General Teaching Councils for England and Wales who shared the information under section 14 of the “Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998”.
	The data was reconciled by the administrator of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme against e-mail addresses already held by them, on the Department’s behalf, and that database was subsequently updated.
	The reconciled e-mail address database was used to communicate with teachers regarding the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to further the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan by (a) pursuing a political solution that involves devolution of power to all regions, (b) engaging with all opposition parties without duress and (c) other means.

Henry Bellingham: We share the assessment of the African Union Peace and Security Council as set out in its 30 November communiqué that there must be a comprehensive approach to achieving peace, justice and reconciliation in Sudan, taking into account the longstanding governance problems in Sudan, especially the challenge of governing a diverse country in an equitable manner. We urge all parties in Sudan to seek such reform through peaceful negotiation and, in particular, the Government to open up a process of inclusive dialogue.

Departmental Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether food and catering services in (a) her Department and (b) public bodies for which she is responsible plan to implement calorie labelling on menus and display boards.

Norman Baker: Within the Department for Transport on-site catering facilities are only available at the Department's headquarters building, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea and at the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) in Bedford. There are no specific plans to add calorie labelling to menus or display boards at the Departments' headquarters building or at the DVLA.
	The Driving Standards Agency's facilities management contractor, Interserve, are currently working with their suppliers to calculate the nutritional value of all foods. This will be presented on menus and display boards where practicable by mid 2012.
	The Department cannot identify the nutritional value of food purchased under other arrangements including as part of external room hire or conference packages.

Departmental Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the food and catering services in (a) her Department and (b) public bodies for which she is responsible are taking to ensure the countries of origin of foods are labelled on its menus and display boards.

Norman Baker: Within the Department for Transport on-site catering facilities are available only at the Department's headquarters building, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea and at the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) in Bedford. There are no specific plans to add country of origin information to menus or display boards at the Departments' headquarters building or at the DVLA.
	The Driving Standards Agency's facilities management contractor, Interserve, does not currently include the requested information on menus and display boards; however they are working with their supplier to achieve this where practicable by mid-2012.
	The Department cannot identify the country of origin of food purchased under other arrangements including as part of external room hire or conference packages.

Departmental Secondment

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what secondments there have been to her Department from (a) industry and (b) the third sector since May 2010; what the (i) purpose and (ii) duration is of each secondment; and whether each secondment was to a policy development role.

Norman Baker: For the central Department our records show that four people entered the Department on secondment since May 2010. Highways Agency Records show one person entered the agency on secondment since May 2010. Owing to the small number of individuals involved we are unable to provide further information as individuals could be identified.
	Our Agencies—Driving Standards Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Government Car and Despatch Agency, Vehicle Certification Agency and Vehicle and Operator Service Agency—do not have any secondments, and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency does not hold central records, this information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Railway Stations

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many railway stations she and her predecessor visited on departmental business in the last 12 months.

Norman Baker: The Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening), and ministerial colleagues visit railway stations on a regular basis whether as a specific visit or incidentally as part of ministerial travel.

Railways: Buckinghamshire

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects work on the east-west rail link between Oxford and Milton Keynes to (a) begin and (b) be completed.

Theresa Villiers: Work on the east west rail link requires prior agreement of a appropriate local contribution to the cost of the project and confirmation of a satisfactory business case. If this is concluded in July 2012 as currently envisaged, the East West Rail Consortium proposes planning work to commence immediately, with physical work commencing in 2015 or earlier, and completion in 2017.

Transport: North-east

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has for future investment in transport infrastructure in the north-east including on the (a) A1, (b) A66, (c) A19 and (d) Tyne tunnel.

Norman Baker: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced in his autumn statement on 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810, a number of transport infrastructure investments which will benefit the north-east, including the electrification of the northern Transpennine rail route which will improve journey times and the reliability of services between Liverpool and Newcastle. In addition, the Chancellor announced the bringing forward of some of the £350 million funding allocated for the Tyne and Wear Metro Improvement Programme to 2011-12, reflecting the good progress which Nexus is making in its renewal programme.
	On local transport, investment will continue to be made through integrated transport block which, for local authorities in the north-east, total £129 million for the period 2011-12 to 2012-13—£87 million for highways maintenance and £42 million for small transport improvement schemes. This will be enhanced by the £50 million additional funding for all councils which was announced in the autumn statement, recognising the vital role that transport in local economies. We have also recently given local authorities the opportunity to bid for a number of newly announced funds, including the third round of the green bus fund and the new better bus areas fund, which together amount to an additional £70 million worth of funding.
	Local authorities in the north-east have also been successful in securing awards from the first round of the £560 million local sustainable transport fund. Redcar and Cleveland, Durham and Darlington councils and the Tyne and Wear ITA have secured investment totalling £12.5 million for sustainable transport schemes which will help support growth and cut carbon. The ITA and other local authorities in Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley are at an advanced stage of developing bids for investment from the second round of the fund, which the Department will consider in the new year.
	Transport schemes in the north-east have also been successful in attracting support from the regional growth fund. Subject to due diligence, RGF awards will support a number of transport-related port developments as well as a scheme to significantly improve access to Newcastle station.
	Tyne tunnel
	The £260 million new Tyne tunnel opened in February this year after 28 months of construction. The old tunnel has been refurbished so that by the end of 2011, both tunnels will be open carrying two lanes of traffic in each direction, providing faster journey times at this key regional crossing. The £6 million refurbishment of the pedestrian tunnel is ongoing, enabling improved transport options for pedestrians and cyclists.
	Highways
	The 2010 comprehensive spending review detailed the Government’s investment decisions for major road projects on the strategic road network, which included the A1 Leeming to Barton. An additional 18 schemes, including the A19 Testos and the A19/A1058 Coast road junction, were identified for delivery in future spending review periods, subject to statutory processes, value for money and affordability. There are no current plans for major investment on the A66.

Energy: Prices

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has made an assessment of the effect on the cost of gas and electricity for each income decile of applying the energy company obligation levy to energy bills on a sliding scale based on the amount of energy consumed rather than as a flat rate.

Gregory Barker: The ECO requires energy suppliers to achieve outcomes but primary powers do not include scope to specify how energy suppliers raise the funds required.
	The assumption underlying the distributional analysis of the impact on energy bills presented in the Draft Impact Assessment is that the Energy Company Obligation levy is recouped by energy suppliers on a per household basis. However, Annex H of the Impact Assessment includes a qualitative assessment of the possible impacts of different approaches to the allocation of ECO targets. The assessment is available here:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/consultation/green-deal/3603-green-deal-eco-ia.pdf

Fuel Poverty: Birmingham

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people living in fuel poverty in Birmingham.

Gregory Barker: The coalition Government are committed to tackling fuel poverty and supporting vulnerable consumers to heat their homes at an affordable cost.
	The warm home discount scheme will provide over 600,000 of the poorest pensioners with a Core Group discount of £120 off their electricity bills this winter. Other low income vulnerable households may also be assisted through the scheme. Overall we expect 2 million low income vulnerable households a year to be assisted through the warm home discount scheme.
	We continue to fund the Warm Front scheme, providing low income vulnerable households, living in energy inefficient properties, with energy efficient heating and insulation measures. Since 2005 Warm Front has assisted 42,719 households in Birmingham.
	In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions provide pensioner households with winter fuel payments to help with additional heating costs during the winter. Cold weather payments are also made to low income and vulnerable households where there is an average temperature of 0°C or below for seven consecutive days. These payments have been permanently increased to £25 per week and in winter 2010-11 over 17 million cold weather payments were paid in Great Britain worth an estimated £430 million.

Natural Gas

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) letters and (b) emails his Department has received on gas security in the last 12 months.

Charles Hendry: We do not keep specific data on the number of letters and emails received on energy security matters. This means that the information requested cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Natural Gas: Exploration

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) letters and (b) emails he has received on shale gas extraction in England in the last 12 months.

Charles Hendry: The Department's central register of correspondence does not list the specific addressee, but I can confirm that, during the last 12 months, DECC has responded to approximately 180 letters and e-mails relating to shale gas.

Natural Gas: Exploration

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) letters, (b) emails and (c) telephone calls his Department has received on shale oil and gas in the last 12 months.

Charles Hendry: The Department's correspondence unit has responded to approximately 180 letters and e-mails relating to shale gas in the last 12 months. As far as the number of e-mails or letters received on shale oil and gas received by individuals, this information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost. No record of the subject of incoming telephone calls is held within the Department.

Air Passenger Duty

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many of the 140 responders to the Government's consultation on the reform of air passenger duty who commented on the banding structure supported (a) the retention of a four band structure, (b) a three band structure and (c) a two band structure;
	(2)  how many of the 70 responders to the Government's consultation on the reform of air passenger duty who commented on class of travel supported (a) premium economy passengers to be liable for reduced rate and (b) premium economy passengers to remain liable for standard rate;
	(3)  how many of the 70 responders to the Government's consultation on the reform of air passenger duty who commented on class of travel supported seats with 40 inch seat pitch and less being liable for the reduced rate.

Henry Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many of the 140 responders to the Government's consultation on the reform of air passenger duty who commented on the banding structure supported (a) the retention of a four band structure, (b) a three band structure and (c) a two band structure;
	(2)  how many of the 70 responders to the Government's consultation on the reform of air passenger duty who commented on class of travel called for seats with 40 inch seat pitch and less to be liable for the Reduced Rate.

Paul Maynard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the 140 responders to the Government's consultation on the reform of air passenger duty who commented on the banding structure called for (a) the retention of a four band structure, (b) a three band structure and (c) a two band structure.

Chloe Smith: The Government decided not to change the air passenger duty (APD) bands as doing so would lead to an increase in APD for 91% of passengers. The APD consultation received 136 responses to the question on banding structure. Of this total, 77 supported a move to two distance bands, eight supported retaining the existing four-band structure and a further eight advocated moving to a three-band structure. A further 43 discussed the question and suggested other alternatives. Supporters of the two-band option argued that it would generate fewer anomalies and be simpler for passengers to understand and airlines to administer. Those in favour of the current four-bands or a system based on more distance bands argued that it would be fairer. However, there was no agreement on the composition of these bands.
	The APD consultation received 70 responses to the question on class of travel. Of this total, 54 supported a reclassification of premium economy while 11 favoured retaining the existing rules. A further five respondents discussed the issue but offered no clear preference. Most of those who wanted premium economy to be taxed at the reduced rate advocated the use of a 40-inch seat pitch definition.
	The Government considered this evidence carefully. A revenue neutral change to the current banding structure would have required those flying to band A and band B destinations (91% of passengers) to pay more. The Government therefore decided to retain the existing four APD distance bands.
	It was clear from consultation responses on class of travel that premium economy products vary significantly between airlines. Any attempt to define premium economy for taxation purposes would increase the complexity of the tax, increasing the burdens for both industry and HMRC. A definition based on seat pitch would inevitably discriminate between similar products offered by different airlines.

Bank Levy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the merits of re-introducing a bank payroll tax; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Bank Payroll Tax was introduced in the last Parliament as a one-off, interim measure ahead of changes in remuneration practices from corporate governance and regulatory reforms.
	The Government have introduced a permanent bank levy to ensure that the banking sector makes a fair contribution to reflect the potential risk to the UK financial system and wider UK economy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), recently announced an increase in the levy rate from 1 January 2012, with resulting revenues for the life of this Parliament expected to exceed £10 billion. The levy is expected to raise more every year from the banking sector than the net revenue from the one-off bank payroll tax.

Building Societies Act 1986

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he has any plans to carry out a review of the Building Societies Act 1986;
	(2)  whether he has any plans to bring forward proposals to increase the deceased investors' limit as defined in the provisions of the Building Societies Act 1986;
	(3)  whether he has any plans to bring forward proposals to amend section (a) 9A and (b) 9B of the Building Societies Act 1986.

Mark Hoban: The Treasury keeps building societies legislation under review. The Government are committed to assessing whether changes are required to update building societies legislation. Amendments to sections 9B of the Building Societies Act are being made as part of the Financial Services Bill that is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny in Parliament.

Departmental Food

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2011, Official Report, column 1022W, on departmental food, when his Department's current catering contract comes up for renewal; and whether the new contract will state that the Government's buying standards for food and catering must be met.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury's catering services at 1 HGR are supplied by a sub-contractor to the PFI provider. The contract expires in July 2014. HMT will ensure that the new contract references the Government's buying standards for food and catering as far as possible within the new contract.

Gift Aid

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to provide further incentives for use of the gift aid scheme.

Chloe Smith: Budget 2011 announced a significant package of reforms to encourage charitable giving, including new measures on Gift Aid. These included raising the Gift Aid benefit limit from £500 to £2,500 and a Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, so that charities can claim a Gift Aid style payment when collecting small donations and where circumstances for collecting the necessary donor details are difficult. The Government are also committed to reducing the administrative burdens on charities through the introduction of an online filing system for making Gift Aid claims and supporting the charity sector in developing a Gift Aid database.
	The Government keep all taxes and reliefs under review, and any changes are announced at Budget.

Renewable Energy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent steps he has taken to encourage growth in the renewable energy sector.

Chloe Smith: holding answer 6 December 2011
	The Government have taken a number of steps to encourage growth in the renewable energy sector in recent months, including:
	announcing at Budget 2011 the introduction of a carbon price floor from 1 April 2013, targeting £30 a tonne of CO2 in 2020, to support investment in low-carbon electricity generation;
	launching of the Renewable Heat Incentive on 28 November this year to provide support for renewable heat;
	publishing a White Paper in July setting out significant reform of, electricity markets to support more investment in low carbon generation and flexible capacity to ensure secure supplies and tackle climate change;
	launching of a consultation in October on changes to the support bands under the renewables obligation to bring forward 70 to 75 TWh of renewable electricity in the UK; and
	intending to make investments in green infrastructure projects through the £3 billion made available for the Green Investment Bank from April 2012 and over the spending review period.

VAT

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the rise in VAT on consumer confidence.

David Gauke: Sustainable public finances are essential for consumer confidence.
	Decisive action taken by the Government in the comprehensive spending review and June 2010 Budget, including the increase in VAT, put the public finances and. Government spending on a sustainable footing. This has prevented the turmoil seen in other countries' sovereign debt markets spreading to the UK and undermining confidence and the recovery in the private sector.

Departmental Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether food and catering services in (a) his Department and (b) public bodies for which he is responsible plan to implement calorie labelling on menus and display boards.

Chris Grayling: (a) Since 1998 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) occupies the majority of its accommodation under a private finance Initiative (PFI) known as the Prime contract. Under the terms of this PFI the Department leases back fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. This covers a variety of facilities including, where appropriate, the provision of catering services which is delivered through Telereal Trillium's service partner Compass Group UK. Compass undertakes all catering related activity.
	In line with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs guidance, DWP reports on how the Government Buying Standards (GBS) criteria are being met. This will feature in periodic updates on the DWP public website—the following link gives details:
	www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/gbs-food-catering.pdf
	This link advises on DWP's commitment and that we are working closely with Telereal Trillium/Compass to maximize compliance with this commitment. One of the best practice GBS criterion, which will feature in future updates on the public website, is around calorie labelling on menus. Compass has indicated that they have implemented full Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling on menus, which includes calorific values, into the DWP HQ site at Caxton House, London and will be rolling out GDA labelling across all other DWP sites between January and July 2012.
	(b) Non-departmental public bodies that share accommodation with the DWP on Prime contract sites are included in the response at (a) above. For those NDPBs not covered by the PRIME contract, none have responsibility for catering arrangements, e.g. the Pension Advisory Service and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) only occasionally buy food and snacks on an ad hoc basis in small quantities from local food retailers. Remploy no longer has a catering business. Their canteens are operated by local third party organisations. The Health and Safety Executive's HQ at Bootle has a similar PFI contract to DWP, covering accommodation and all services. HSE has no direct management responsibility for the caterers. However, menus here include a healthy (reduced calorie) option and a vegetarian option. All non-departmental public bodies are aware of the Government Buying Standards.

Departmental Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the food and catering services in (a) his Department and (b) public bodies for which he is responsible are taking to ensure the country of origin of foods are labelled on its menus and display boards.

Chris Grayling: The information requested is as follows:
	(a) Since 1998 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) occupies the majority of its accommodation under a private finance initiative (PFI) known as the Prime contract. Under the terms of this PFI the Department leases back fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. This covers a variety of facilities including, where appropriate, the provision of catering services which is delivered through Telereal Trillium's service partner Compass Group UK. Compass undertakes all catering related activity.
	In line with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs guidance, DWP reports on how the Government Buying Standards (GBS) criteria are being met. This will feature in periodic updates on the DWP public website—the following link gives details:
	www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/gbs-food-catering.pdf
	This link advises on DWP's commitment and that we are working closely with Telereal Trillium/Compass to maximize compliance with this commitment. One of the GBS criterion, which will feature in future updates on the public website, is around indicating the country of origin of meat, meat products and dairy products. Country of origin information is currently published on menus in the Caxton House, London site and Compass aims to provide this information on menus in the remainder of DWP sites by June 2012. In the meantime this information is available on request.
	(b) Non-departmental public bodies that share accommodation with the DWP on Prime contract sites are included in the response at (a) above. For those NDPBs not covered by the Prime contract, none have responsibility for catering arrangements, e.g. the Pension Advisory Service and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) only occasionally buy food and snacks on an ad hoc basis in small quantities from local food retailers. Remploy no longer has a catering business. Their canteens are operated by local third party organisations. The Health and Safety Executive's HQ at Bootle has a similar PFI contract to DWP, covering accommodation and all services. HSE has no direct management responsibility for the caterers. HSE's caterer sources ingredients from suppliers who are committed to using British food sources whenever possible. However, they do not consistently advise on food country of origin but signage does advise customers of British bacon, eggs and meat. All non-departmental public bodies are aware of the Government Buying Standards.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research his Department has undertaken together with GPs to evaluate the effectiveness of fit notes; what the findings of such research were; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department has and continues to carry out research with GPs to evaluate the statement of fitness for work. The research includes:
	a representative survey of 1,400 GPs;
	in-depth qualitative interviews with 45 GPs from different locations and practice sizes, and with different personal characteristics; and
	a study involving the collection of fit note data from a small number of GP practices for comparison with sick note data to examine effectiveness.
	The first two projects have published their findings. These can be found in the Department's research reports number 733 and 780.

Social Security Benefits: Students

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what benefits are available to students with a long-term illness or disability (a) in full-time, (b) in part-time education and (c) who has suspended their studies;
	(2)  what benefits are available to students with a long-term illness or disability who have (a) drawn and (b) not drawn on their student loan.

Maria Miller: Students in full-time education are not normally eligible for social security benefits as they should be supported by the higher education system. The Government have no plans for allowing exceptions to these rules in respect of students.
	When a student becomes too seriously ill to continue their course and, with the agreement of their university or college authority, suspends their studies, they may apply for employment and support allowance, subject to the qualifying conditions. If they have drawn down their loan it will be treated as income for the quarter it was meant to cover when assessing a claim to a means tested benefit. If the loan has not been drawn down it will not be treated as income in the benefit claim.
	Students in part-time education may qualify for jobseeker's allowance or income support if they meet the conditions for claiming either of those benefits.
	Full-time and part-time students receiving disability living allowance may receive income-related employment and support allowance provided they meet the conditions of entitlement.

Winter Fuel Payments

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made an estimate of the cost of means testing winter fuel allowance payments.

Steve Webb: Means-testing winter fuel payments would significantly increase administrative costs, but it is likely that these would be more than offset by decreased benefit expenditure. For example, if the payments were to be made only to those in receipt of pension credit the benefit expenditure would be £600 million in 2012-13. With current entitlement conditions benefit expenditure on winter fuel payments is forecast to be £2,100 million in 2012-13.
	Note:
	All figures rounded to the nearest £100 million.

Serious Fraud Office

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many cases were investigated by the Serious Fraud Office in 2010-11; how many resulted in charges being brought; and how many cases in which charges were brought (a) were settled and (b) resulted in a successful prosecution.

Edward Garnier: The Serious Fraud Office investigates and prosecutes the most serious and complex economic crime. At any given time in 2010-11 the SFO was investigating around 100 cases including those at the earliest stages of investigation (to see if they were appropriate for the SFO to take on), and cases that had been to trial but where proceeds of crime issues were being pursued.
	Because of their complexity, it can take a number of years to investigate, get cases through the court system and bring them to conclusion. Outcomes from the work and effort put into cases are sometimes not seen until many months later. Cases investigated in 2010-11 therefore may not have been charged or have gone to trial within the same period.
	The 17 cases prosecuted in 2010-11 involved 31 defendants. Of these, 26 defendants were convicted and five defendants were acquitted, giving a trial conviction rate of 84%. In every case that went to trial at least one defendant was convicted.
	
		
			  2010-11 (number) 
			 Average number of active cases 103 
			 Cases where charges have been brought(1) 36 
			 Cases successfully concluded and leading to prosecutions 17 
			 Cases settled by civil recovery 1 
			 (1) The figure relates the number of cases that at the end of the financial year were either awaiting trial, where the trial was part heard, or where the trial had concluded. In all these cases charges will have been brought against the defendants but not necessarily during 2010-11.

Law Centres

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what future support he plans to provide to law centres.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice does not provide direct support for law centres. However, law centres are able to bid for contracts issued by the Legal Services Commission to provide legal aid services in specified areas of law and will continue to be able to do so in the future.
	The Ministry of Justice is also working closely with Cabinet Office to support the cross-government review into the funding of the Not-for Profit sector announced on 21 November.

Departmental Consultants

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much (a) his Department and (b) the National Offender Management Service spent on external consultants in each of the last three years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice (excluding the National Offender Management Service) has spent the following on external consultants in each of the last three years:
	
		
			 November to October each year Spend (net)   (£) 
			 2008-09 38,403,327 
			 2009-10 21,651,659 
			 2010-11 11,333,398 
		
	
	The National Offender Management Services has spent the following on external consultants in each of the last three years:
	
		
			 November to October each year Spend (net)   (£) 
			 2008-09 9,622,423 
			 2009-10 15,890,390 
			 2010-11 14,560,996

European Court of Human Rights

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases against the UK were pending in the European Court of Human Rights on the most recent date for which information is available.

Kenneth Clarke: According to the Court's published statistics, the number of applications pending against the UK was 6,197 at 18 July 2011. This total included applications for which a completed application form had not yet been received and on which no decision had yet been made about admissibility.
	The vast majority of these applications will be declared inadmissible and will not result in a judgment. This is illustrated by the Court's statistics for 2010, which state that only 23 of applications against the UK. resulted in judgments. For this year, up to October, the total number of judgments in applications against the UK was 10.

Formal Punishment

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners were subject to formal punishment after adjudication in each prison in (i) 2009 and (ii) 2010.

Crispin Blunt: Information in the form requested is not readily available. The offender management caseload statistics, available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/prisons-and-probation/omcs-annual.htm
	show that in 2009, a total of 98,275 offences by male prisoners were punished at adjudications, and 6,471 offences by female prisoners. Statistics for 2010 have not yet been published.

Offenders: Community Care

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2011, Official Report, columns 27-9W, on offenders: community care, what the subsequent offences are for which discharged restricted patients have been convicted.

Crispin Blunt: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only by a member of staff manually sifting through up to 2,094 files for over 150 working days at a disproportionate cost.
	However, work to obtain information on further offences committed by those restricted patients discharged since December 2009 is under way, and I will write to my hon. Friend with that information as soon as it is available.

Offenders: Community Care

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2011, Official Report, columns 27-9W, on offenders: community care, how many requests were made to him to release restricted patients into the community in each of the last five years; and how many such requests were granted.

Crispin Blunt: It is not possible to provide the information requested relating to requests for discharge prior to 4 March 2009, the date on which an electronic caseworking system was introduced. To do so would require manual checks of 4,127 files for 98 days at disproportionate cost.
	The number of requests to discharge restricted patients into the community received and granted from 4 March 2009 to 8 December 2011 are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Request for discharge Discharge agreed Discharge refused 
			 4 March 2009 to 31 December 2009 74 64 10 
			 2010 110 92 18 
			 1 January 2011 to 9 December 2011 112 96 16 
		
	
	The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), will discharge restricted patients into the community only if he is satisfied, based on the clinical evidence presented, that the patient no longer requires treatment in hospital and that arrangements for his safe management in the community have been made.

Personal Injury

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reason the round table consultation meeting on personal injury matters scheduled for 1 November 2011 was postponed; and on what date it will now take place.

Jonathan Djanogly: I refer the right hon. Member to my previous answer given on 6 December 2011, Official Report, column 190W. The roundtable discussion was postponed as the publication of the Government’s response to “Solving Disputes in the County Courts” has been delayed. The meeting will be rescheduled for the new year once the consultation response has been published.

Reoffenders: Alternatives to Prosecution

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2011, Official Report, column 1045W, on reoffenders: alternatives to prosecution, 
	(1)  how many offenders with 15 or more previous convictions received subsequent police cautions in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many offenders have received more than one out-of-court disposal for offences committed in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: My hon. Friend’s request for further information has been answered using MOJ's published proven re-offending statistics. In this case proven reoffending is measured over a one year period from the point an offender receives their first caution.
	Table 1 shows the number of cautioned adult offenders (aged 18 or over) with 15 or more previous convictions who then received a subsequent caution within a year, for the last five years for which data are available (2005 to 2009).
	
		
			 Table 1 
			  Number of offenders 
			 2005 337 
			 2006 549 
			 2007 575 
			 2008 512 
			 2009 374 
		
	
	Table 2 shows the number of cautioned adult offenders (aged 18 or over) who received more than one out of court disposal (caution) within a year for the last five years for which data are available (2005 to 2009).
	
		
			 Table 2 
			  Number of offenders 
			 2005 8,169 
			 2006 11,314 
			 2007 11,923 
			 2008 10,649 
			 2009 8,149

Tribunals Service: Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any part of the Tribunals Service is planning to operate a six-day week to hear appeals against work capability assessment decisions; and which Tribunal Service centres are planning to do so.

Jonathan Djanogly: Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) (decisions in which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves.
	The Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tribunal hears appeals on a range of benefits, of which ESA is one. In response to significant and unforecast increases in appeals to the tribunal, HMCTS has taken a number of measures to increase its hearing capacity, by increasing the number of tribunal sessions held, increasing judicial and administrative productivity, and introducing more efficient processes and extended opening times. Total disposals by the SSCS tribunal in the period between April and October 2011 were 21% up on the same period in 2010, and 66% higher than in the same seven months in 2009.
	All SSCS hearing venues hear appeals on the range of benefit types, including ESA. Saturday sittings have been introduced in a number of hearing venues. Appellants are asked whether they are willing to attend a hearing on a Saturday before their case is listed and the hearing will proceed exactly as it would on a weekday.
	The following tribunal hearing venues are running Saturday sittings: Sutton, Bexleyheath, Fox Court (South London appeals), Cardiff, Wrexham, Langstone, Plymouth, Dundee and Hamilton.
	The following tribunal hearing venues will run Saturday sittings from January 2012: Newcastle, South Shields, Leeds, and Sheffield.
	The following tribunal hearing venues have run Saturday sittings and are evaluating the impact on clearance rates before deciding whether to run more: Watford, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Fox Court (North London appeals), and Anchorage House (London). Saturday sittings were also run in Liverpool during September, October and November 2011.

Medical Records: Wales

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with Ministers in the Welsh Government on proposals for the use of Welsh resident patient data held by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for research purposes, including Welsh residents who have received treatment outside Wales;
	(2)  pursuant to his contribution of 5 December 2011, Official Report, column 31, on life sciences, which datasets of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency are held on an (a) UK and (b) England-only basis.

Simon Burns: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been running the General Practice Research Database (GPRD), that is owned by the Secretary of State for Health, since 1999. The GPRD has arrangements with general practices in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland so that it is a generalisable sample dataset for each nation as well as the United Kingdom as a whole. GPRD is also linked to other national health service datasets such as Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Cancer and Myocardial Infarction Registries. However, for operational reasons the current linkage is only undertaken for general practitioner practices within England.
	The recently announced MHRA service, Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), is a partnership with the National Institute for Health Research and has been established to run a similar English service to the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage research service in Wales and that in Scotland (Scottish Health Informatics Programme), that are both already operating. However, there are research needs that require access to data across the four nations and additionally other services that need particular strengths of research groups in various parts of the UK; so co-operation will be required.
	No discussions have taken place between Ministers but discussions have been ongoing with those involved in both the Welsh and the Scottish research systems, since the start of the precursor to CPRD, which is the Research Capability Programme. These discussions have now stepped up to ensure that what is the largest system, by virtue of population size of England, takes a lead in fostering a dynamic synergistic relationship to the benefit of all patients, the NHS as a whole and research teams wherever they are located. Ministers have apprised of developments during these discussions.
	Subject to agreements between the relevant groups it is expected that data access and data linkage for specific research purposes will be enabled across the UK provided all governance approvals are agreed and in place.

Pregnant Women: Grants

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he took to maintain the Health in Pregnancy and Sure Start Maternity Grant.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply.
	In the June 2010 Budget, the Government announced a range of measures including limiting the Social Fund Sure Start Maternity Grant scheme to the first child and the abolition of the Health in Pregnancy Grant. These were part of the Government's deficit reduction plan.
	Sure Start maternity grants are available to families in receipt of income support, income-related employment and support allowance, income-based jobseeker's allowance, pension credit, child tax credit at a rate above the family element, or working tax credit that also includes a disability or severe disability element. This broad eligibility ensures that the grant is as widely available as possible among families with lower incomes both in and out of work.
	Restricting payment in this way ensures that the limited resources available support families when they need it most.

Departmental Procurement

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what procedures his Department has put in place to ensure value for money on purchases; and what savings have been identified using those procedures in the last year.

Bob Neill: In line with Government commitments to reduce public sector expenditure my Department has undertaken a comprehensive review of spend to identify savings and cost efficiencies.
	Following Cabinet Office guidance the Department has placed an immediate freeze on consulting expenditure, unless it is of operational necessity and the work cannot be undertaken by civil servants.
	Procedures have been introduced whereby the Minister and Permanent Secretary review all consultancy contracts of £20,000 or more on a three monthly basis and ensuring that any proposals to extend contracts longer than nine months are jointly approved by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander).
	Mechanisms to manage demand have been put in place to manage and reduce expenditure through the Government Procurement Card. My. Department has also published online all its spending on goods and services since 2008 over £500 online which has helped identify waste and inefficiency.
	Savings are borne out in Department accounts. Note 9 'other administrative costs' of the Department's Report and Accounts 2010-11 (page 129) reports that non-pay Gross Admin Costs for the Department reduced from £123 million in 2009-10 to £104 million in 2010-11, once early retirement costs of £64 million were taken into account. Figures in this report are prepared in accordance with HM Treasury's Financial Reporting Manual for central Government Departments and associated Treasury resource accounting and budgeting guidance.
	Additionally, the Department's Public Sector Public Procurement Expenditure Survey shows a 29% reduction in third party expenditure form 2009-10 to 2010-11.
	In particular the Department has made significant operational savings, by reducing demand and renegotiating commercial terms, £1.8 million in IT contracts and £2.4 million in temporary staffing and interim labour costs.
	The Department has achieved estimated net property running costs reductions of £9.8 million per annum since the start of the spending review period which includes £1.9 million in Estates requirements in the last financial year. In addition the Department has reduced its research expenditure by 36% (£10.8 million) in 2010-11.
	Ministers and officials review all budgets and business cases to evaluate value for money.

Land Use: Databases

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has for the future of the National Land Use Database; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: The National Land Use Database of Previously Developed Land and Buildings provides an annual snapshot and inventory of the national stock of vacant and/or derelict land and buildings in England that may be available for development. It is the only countrywide source of information on previously used, or brownfield land and its data is classified as ‘Official Statistics’, published by the Office for National Statistics on its Neighbourhood Statistics website providing Parliament and the public with intelligence on land use.
	The Homes and Communities Agency took over the responsibility for the data in 2008 and in preparing the annual data works closely with local planning authorities in England collecting individual site data in a standardised form. Recent efforts in modernising and simplifying the database and data collection have seen an increase in both data quality and the number of users of the data. The agency is continuing to examine ways in which technology might help in continuing this trend with a particular emphasis on data collection and its transparency/interpretation.
	The Homes and Communities Agency expects to publish the figures for 2010 returns in the spring.

Local Government: Pensions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he has taken to improve employees' confidence in the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Bob Neill: The Government's plans to reform public service pension schemes, including the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales, are intended to put in place new, good quality arrangements that are affordable, sustainable and fair to both taxpayers and to each schemes' members for the long-term. Developments taking place currently on several fronts within the scheme are intended to secure this important objective, including a statutory consultation exercise to secure fairly and progressively some £900 million savings in the scheme by 2014-15 and discussions with key business partners on longer term reforms, following Lord Hutton's recommendations to the Government earlier this year.

Non-domestic Rates: Tax Allowances

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  whether businesses that will not be eligible for business rate discounts will be able to vote in ballots to determine which industries are eligible;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the use of ballots to determine which industries will be eligible for business rate discounts; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: The use of the new power to grant business rates discounts will be entirely at the discretion of the relevant local authority. No ballots are required.

Public Expenditure: Birmingham

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department has allocated to Birmingham City Council in (a) ring-fenced and (b) non-ring fenced funding grants for each of the next three years.

Bob Neill: There is no full list of the Department's funding allocations to any local authority for any future year. The following table shows the revenue grants our Department is currently expecting to pay to Birmingham city council during 2012-13 as at 8 December 2011. Further grants may be announced in due course.
	All these grants are non-ringfenced. It is not DCLG policy to make ring-fenced grants to local authorities.
	
		
			  £ million 
			 Formula Grant 646.520 
			 New Homes Bonus 7.416 
			 DCLG grants feeding into Local Services Support Grant Preventing Homelessness 1.250

Voluntary Organisations

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the Ministerial Group on the Big Society has considered the Compact on working with the voluntary sector; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The renewed compact has not been a formal discussion item at any meetings of the ministerial group on big society. However, Departments are aware of their commitments towards the compact and, from 2012-13, it is intended that Government Departments will include a statement on how the compact is being implemented in their business plans.
	The NAO will shortly publish a report on how central Government Departments have implemented the principles set out in the renewed compact.

Departmental Written Questions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of questions for ordinary written answer received a substantive response within (a) 10, (b) 20, (c) 30 and (d) more than 30 sitting days in the 2010-12 Session to date.

Edward Davey: The Department aims to answer ordinary written parliamentary questions (PQs) within five sitting days. Where it is not possible to provide a full answer within the usual deadline, the Department believes it will normally be preferable to provide an answer a few days late, rather than provide an incomplete answer.
	During the period 18 May 2010 to 30 November 2011, a total of 4,157 ordinary PQs were answered of which 3,992 (96%) received a substantive reply within 10 sitting days. Two questions, for this period, remain to be answered.
	In line with the format provided to the Procedure Committee in the last Session,(1) the Department's PQ data is recorded by (i) questions answered on time (ii) questions answered within 5-10 days and (iii) questions answered more than 10 days late. Data related to PQs answered 20; 30 days or more than 30 days late is not held centrally within BIS.
	The Government have committed to providing the Procedure Committee with information relating to written PQ performance on a sessional basis and will provide the Committee with the information, using the same format as before, at the end of the Session.
	These figures have been drawn from the Department's database which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	(1) Procedure Committee—First Special Report 7 December 2009 [HC 129]

English for Speakers of other Languages

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the statement of 18 July 2011, Official Report, columns 59-60WS, on English for speakers of other languages, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on developing new forms of funding support for English for speakers of other languages courses.

John Hayes: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Communities and Local Government are discussing how best to support the provision of English language to assist those areas facing the most significant integration challenges and an announcement will be made shortly.

Higher Education: Admissions

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what impact assessment he has carried out in respect of the effect on the social diversity of the student body at English universities of the implementation of the core and margin model.

David Willetts: The Department published an impact assessment and equality impact assessment on the proposals in the Higher Education White Paper in June 2011, can be found in the following link.
	http://discuss.bis.gov.uk/hereform/all-documents/
	Overall, our equality impact assessment concluded that we anticipated that the 'core and margin' proposals would not have an adverse affect on protected or disadvantaged groups. The impact assessment recognised that certain protected groups were over-represented in the non-AAB population. We concluded that the fair access framework we have introduced would help ensure a fair balance of places are offered to eligible students from less privileged backgrounds and under-represented backgrounds in institutions.
	We have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to monitor the impact of these changes in terms of equality issues and to offer advice as soon as is practicable.

Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what systems are in place to monitor the work of the Office of the Adjudicator for Higher Education; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) is the designated operator of the student complaints scheme for higher education students in England and Wales. The OIA provides a valuable, independent service of last resort for students who have exhausted their institution's complaints procedures.
	It is for the OIA board to monitor the performance and effectiveness of the organisation, to approve the rules and procedures for the operation of the OIA scheme and to preserve the scheme's independence. The majority of the board are independent directors, appointed through open competition.
	The OIA publishes an annual report on its activities for the sector to review. The 2010 report was published on 14 June 2011:
	http://www.oiahe.org.uk/media/30013/oia_annual_report_2010.pdf
	BIS officials are in regular contact with the OIA and provide me with updates on their progress. I last met the OIA chair and chief executive on 6 September 2010.

Students: Fees and Charges

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made on the effects of the core and margin model on higher education institutions charging between £7,500 and £9,000 per year in tuition fees.

David Willetts: holding answer 8 December 2011
	The Higher Education (HE) White Paper ‘Students at the Heart of the System’, published in June, set out the proposal and aims to free up the current restrictive approach to allocating student places to higher education institutions. Alongside the HE White Paper, an impact assessment of the proposals was published on the BIS website which includes modelling of that policy. This impact assessment is available at:
	http://discuss.bis.gov.uk/hereform/all-documents/
	Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) consulted over the summer on the operation of teaching funding and student number controls in 2012/13, which included the freeing up of restrictions on the recruitment of new entrants. The outcomes from the consultation including responses, are available on the HEFCE website at:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/funding/201213/
	HEFCE is committed to monitoring closely the impacts of the new policy and will offer formal advice as soon as is practicable.

Armed Forces: Food

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what guidelines there are on the quality and quantity of food supplied to service personnel; what changes have been made to them since May 2010; and who is responsible for enforcing and monitoring them;
	(2)  what changes have been made to the suppliers of food to UK service personnel since May 2010.

Peter Luff: The Defence Fuel and Food Services Team are responsible for the issue of Ministry of Defence (MOD) food quality standards to ensure that products meet all the relevant criteria (legislation, nutrition, dietary, shelf-life, value for money, sustainability, surety of supply) required for operating in a number of unique global environments. These standards apply to all Defence food supply contracts and pre-date May 2010. They are regularly updated although no major changes have been made since May 2010.
	Guidance in respect of quantity of food supplied to service personnel is contained within The Defence Catering Manual and basic military training which provides personnel with a fundamental knowledge of nutrition, to optimise physical and mental function, long-term health and morale. The manual also directs, through Front Line Commands, responsibility for enforcement and monitoring, of the standards which apply to military personnel.
	Although new contracts have been awarded since May 2010, the list of suppliers that provide catering services to the MOD has not changed.

Departmental Catering

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether food and catering services in (a) his Department and (b) public bodies for which he is responsible plan to implement calorie labelling on menus and display boards;
	(2)  what steps the food and catering services in (a) his Department and (b) public bodies for which he is responsible are taking to ensure the country of origin of foods are labelled on its menus and display boards.

Peter Luff: In accordance with the Government Buying Standards, we fully support the overarching commitment that suppliers should be able to indicate the origin of the meat, meat products and dairy products either on the menu or accompanying literature, or at least when the information is requested by the consumer. The Government Buying Standards, while not mandating calorie labelling on menus, does cite this as best practice and therefore we encourage the practice wherever possible.
	Menus on display boards at Ministry of Defence (MOD) sites are designed to simply reflect the options available at each meal. This information will include any vegetarian options or where a dish may contain any potential allergens. Country of origin data and nutritional data is available from the food provider or the MOD's Defence Fuel and Food Services Team on request.